Ombudsman says cases down to 9,815 in January

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – The Office of the Ombudsman on Friday said it resolved 6,677 criminal and administrative cases in 2013, out of the combined year workload of 16,492, leaving a balance of 9,815 cases as of January 2014.

A total of 548 criminal complaints resulted in the filing of criminal cases in various courts. In the Sandiganbayan alone, 961 informations were filed in 2013, the highest in the last 18 years and double the 2012 figures.

Meanwhile, 790 administrative cases resulted in the imposition of penalties – ranging from fines to dismissals from the service – against erring public officers and employees.

Around 3 percent of the disposed cases were referred to other agencies or for further case build-up; 75 percent and 80 percent of the administrative and criminal cases, respectively, were dismissed for various grounds (lack of jurisdiction, prescription, condonation doctrine, lack of merit or want of probable cause, among others).

Criminal Cases

Out of the total criminal case workload of 8,193 (5,833 carried over from 2012 plus 2,360 newly instituted criminal cases for 2013), 39 percent or 3,186 criminal cases were disposed, leaving 5,007 criminal cases carried over to 2014.

The Ombudsman also noted that even if there was a 17 percent increase in the criminal case workload for 2013, it managed to trim down the year-end docket for criminal cases by 14 percent from 5,833 in 2012 to 5,007 in 2013.

Cases for asset forfeiture were considered as criminal cases for purposes of the report.

Administrative Cases

Out of the total administrative case workload of 8,299 (5,883 carried over from 2012 plus 2,416 newly instituted administrative cases for 2013), 42 percent or 3,491 administrative cases were disposed, leaving 4,808 administrative cases carried over to 2014.

The Ombudsman said that even if there was a 10 percent increase in the administrative case workload for 2013, it has managed to decrease the year-end docket for administrative cases by 18 percent from 5,883 in 2012 to 4,808 in 2013.